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Assignment 7: Personal Tutoring poster (the role of the personal tutor within a higher education
context)
A Personal tutoring system: a positive option for University College
Falmouth?
1.0 What is personal tutoring?
The term ‘personal tutoring’ can be interpreted in many different ways, therefore it is important to
agree and clarify a definition of the term prior to developing and applying a system to University
College Falmouth.
The general understanding of the role of a personal tutor is to provide support:
“Personal tutors play an important part in the support structure offered on all HE courses,
representing a key contact point between the institution and the student.” (Wisker et al 2008: 44)
The concept of personal tutoring has a distinct and clear value within Higher Education: students
from a variety of backgrounds suddenly share a new academic environment, often far from their
familiar family and local community. These students will need support, advice, guidance, and
sometimes a certain degree of counselling to help them engage with the university experience and
to make the most of the opportunities available to them.
A personal tutor should therefore act as a listener and advisor, not just with academic issues but also
with any other aspect of their personal life. The NUS Charter on Personal Tutors suggests the
following considerations for this role:
1. All students should be entitled to a named personal tutor
2. All students should meet their tutor at least once a term
3. Staff should be given full training on being an effective personal tutor
4. There should be institution-wide procedures for personal tutoring
5. Staff and students should set mutual expectations
6. The personal tutoring system should be adaptable to students needs
7. Personal tutoring should support both academic and personal development
8. Understanding assessment feedback should be integrated into personal tutoring
9. Personal tutoring should be recognised in staff reward and recognition schemes
10. Personal tutoring should make full use of appropriate new technologies
2.0 What support currently exists at UCF?
At present, University College Falmouth does not provide an institution wide system of personal
tutoring. However, personal tutoring is being offered to some degree in many departments and
there are Educational Development Lecturers (EDLs) who do liaise with support services and
coordinate the care of students who seek help. Although the potential exists for an effective
personal tutoring system, the approach does not possess the strong lines of communication neededto make it beneficial for all students.
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A greater systematic approach would ensure that all students have similar opportunities for
receiving this support (Swain 2008). The NUS Charter recognises that:
“Every institution has a different model of personal tutoring and there is often variation in
how personal tutoring is delivered in different subject disciplines. It is important that students get a
comparable experience across the whole institution so that they feel part of the same learning
community but without limiting schools and faculties creativity in exceeding the minimum
expectations.”
University College Falmouth could excel at offering a personal tutoring system with a more joined-up
approach, ensuring channels of communication are consistent and strong between departments and
student support services.
3.0 How might this enhance the student learning experience?
A personal tutoring system would be highly beneficial in enhancing the student learning experience
at University College Falmouth. If students have: “regular and meaningful contact with their personal
tutor” (NUS Education Information 2011) they will feel they are a valued part of the university
community.
3.1 Pedagogically
Personal tutoring provides an opportunity for students to have regular contact with an academic
member of staff with whom they can discuss course content, feedback, assessment criteria and
other academic aspects including future learning or employment opportunities.
Often, especially where student cohorts are large, this does not naturally happen because teachingtimes does not allow. If a personal tutoring system is to be introduced effectively it must take into
account the extra workload this amounts to and the support these members of staff will require to
fulfil the role (NUS Education Information 2011).
This type of contact can help students achieve their full potential and gain good degree results,
which may encourage them to pursue post-graduate courses and have better employment
prospects.
3.2 Personally and Environmentally
A feeling of belonging can enhance the student experience and a personal tutor can help them feel
connected with the academic environment and the community of learners:
“Many students cite the reason they dropped out of university was because they didn’t feel
like they had anyone who cared about them, or someone they could trust to talk to…”(NUS
Education Information 2011).
Personal tutoring could provide an opportunity for students to feel connected to their course and to
“repersonalise education” (Atwood 2009). Thus providing an environment where a variety of
traditional and non-traditional students can embrace Higher Education and experience the support
they need to do this.
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4.0 Obstacles to introducing a personal tutoring system?
There are some obstacles to introducing a personal tutoring system and these are most significantly
the investment it would require in both time and money. Moreover it would require an institution
wide commitment to the idea.
Unfortunately, given the current climate, universities will be looking at where they can make
financial savings and not investments. However Oxford Brookes University and Reading University
have been working on an HEFCE funded project looking at student retention and their findings show
a positive affect on retention rates (NUS Education Information 2011). Moreover the Open
University complied a study which showed that their retention rates increased by 5% with the
introduction of personal tutors (Hixenbaugh & Thomas 2006).
5.0 Opportunities provided by personal tutoring for a better learning experience?
Given the rise in tuition fees to £9,000 per year for students of University College Falmouth, a
personal tutoring system would provide the opportunity for a better learning experience.
In conjunction with this there is an increasing student-to-staff ratio meaning that students
experience less contact time with staff. This can cause retention rates to fall and could be prevented
by the introduction of a personal tutoring system.
All Higher Education Institutions are concerned about retention of students. In combination with
other more generic factors, University College Falmouth is going through a period of rapid growth,
where schools, programmes and the physical buildings are increasing in size. Moreover, the campus
is shared with the University of Exeter and has recently merged on site with Dartington College of
Arts. These factors can cause problems and can be unsettling for students, but the implications of
this could be limited by ensuring a consistent and reliable system of support in the form of personal
tutors.
Furthermore, a personal tutoring system would support the institution’s aim to increase widening
participation (Trotter 2004). Students from a variety of backgrounds should experience the support
they need to achieve academically at university level.
6.0 Recommendations
The following recommendations are for introducing a personal tutoring system at University College
Falmouth:
Initially commit to the idea of a personal tutoring system
Define what is understood by personal tutoring
Allocate adequate funds for staff time and staff training
Measure the anticipated impact on the institution
Share this vision and definition with the institution
Use the NUS Charter as a template for achieving an effective system
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Identify channels of communication and a structure for the system
Identify members of staff as personal tutors
Redefine their role, allowing sufficient time for personal tutoring
Provide training for these staff and repeat on a regular basis
Provide a support system for the personal tutors and ensure they are recognised for goodpractice
Roll out the system for students ensuring it is carried out in combination with qualitative
feedback and quantitative retention figures
Evaluate and reflect on the system at regular intervals, adapting and improving it as
necessary to retain a high quality and effective system
Furthermore, it would be valuable to look at the personal tutoring systems in the HEFCE project on
retention rates for recommendations of best practice. Dr. Sue Robbins at Oxford Brookes University
makes two important points about introducing a personal tutoring system, the first is that senior
management staff should commit to and support the idea, and the second is that the structure of asystem should ensure that personal tutors are given the support they need so that cases can
referred if the tutors feel uncomfortable at any time.
The advantages of such a system outweigh the obstacles and the value of a personal tutoring system
will undoubtedly be realised by University College Falmouth in this time of significant change.
References
ATWOOD, Rachel. 2009. ‘The Personal Touch’ in Times Higher Education *online+. Available at:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=406424 (accessed 06 June 2011)
NUS HIGHER EDUCATION. 2011. ‘Personal Tutors’ NUS Connect *online+. Available at:
http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/campaigns/highereducation/learning-and-teaching-
hub/personaltutors/ (accessed 08 August 2011)
SWAIN, Harriet. 2008. ‘The Personal Tutor’ in Times Higher Education [online]. Available at:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=210049§ioncode=26 (accessed
07 June 2011)
TROTTER, Eileen. 2004. ‘Personal Tutoring: Policy vs Reality’ Paper presented at the Education in a
Changing Environment 13-14 September 2004. Available at:http://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/file.php?file=%2F626%2FTrotter_Personal_Tutoring_Policy_V_
Reality_of_Practice.pdf (accessed 07 June 2011)
WISKER, Gina, EXLEY, Kate, ANTONIOU, Maria and RIDLEY, Pauline. 2008. Working one-to-one with
students: supervising, coaching, mentoring and personal tutoring. Abingdon: Routledge
